Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan announced that all college classes will start in October and students are expected to attend classes in person.
He announced that the academic year for various degree courses will commence from September 1 with online classes, while the offline classes will start in October.
According to a press statement from the Deputy Chief Minister, he said that the department is awaiting guidelines from the central government on conducting offline classes as well as the few degree exams to be conducted in September.
Therefore, the government has decided to get the ball rolling on all academic activities online from next month. In addition, all colleges will start in October and students are expected to attend classes in person.
The state government has already made comprehensive preparations for starting offline classes following the guidelines set by the UGC. The state government will additionally follow the directions from the central government as they come, said the Deputy Chief Minister.
For final year examinations, the press statement read, "Along with the commencement of the academic year, final year examinations will be scheduled for all the undergraduate, diploma and engineering students.
Additionally, exams for those students who hold backlogs will also be conducted. These decisions have been taken in the sole interest of the students to ensure their bright future.
Regarding NEET, Narayan said, "The state government has successfully conducted the CET for more than 1.94 lakh students. In addition, 63 COVID positive students have also achieved good ranks by confidently taking the exam. When the reality is so conducive, I do not understand why people are opposing the NEET from being conducted."
"I would like to advise all of them that they should not play with the future of the children. I suspect that there is something fishy about the issue. Maybe certain invisible groups want seats allocated through an opaque `system` rather than on the basis of merit. Some vested interests have been trying to disrupt NEET since the beginning. There is a huge ecosystem behind it with efforts going on for many years now. However, their objectives will remain unfulfilled," he said.
He emphasised that the NEET needs to be conducted as it is a well-structured exam which allows students to take up admissions throughout the country with just one test. There is malice involved in the widespread opposition to NEET but the state government is prepared for the test and will conduct it smoothly, he said.
